Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted Social
Speaker 1: Distancing Style from Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spoffer,
Speaker 1: joined as always by my trusted colleague Wes Hodkowitz. Were
Speaker 1: coming to you from our humble abodes, where my hair
Speaker 1: has not gotten any shorter. But west, your beard is gone,
Speaker 1: My friend, what happened over the weekend? I lost a bet? No, Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: I know it was funny. So a couple of things.
Speaker 1: One um, we have been practicing proper social distancing, so
Speaker 1: when I'm out in public, I've actually been wearing a mask. Now.
Speaker 1: The beard was getting really itchy and it was annoying
Speaker 1: to me, so I shaved that off. My favorite story, though,
Speaker 1: is the fact that my mother, who has been watching
Speaker 1: Unscripted and been checking some of the stuff out, not
Speaker 1: a huge fan of the beard. I actually had to
Speaker 1: go over to my parents house to pick up my
Speaker 1: Scottie Pippen jersey because I wanted to wear it for
Speaker 1: the last dance on Sunday and I had shaved uh
Speaker 1: and she was through the moon about it and she
Speaker 1: loved it. She was she so happy. So here I
Speaker 1: am clean shaven again. Will mix it up you know,
Speaker 1: as long as I'm not able to go to a barber,
Speaker 1: I'm not able to go out to the grocery store
Speaker 1: as much as I want to and keep forgetting to buy,
Speaker 1: you know, actual shaving cream. I'm sure it'll come back
Speaker 1: at some point and maha it will be disappointed, all right. Well,
Speaker 1: as long as we can keep Mahad happy in the interim,
Speaker 1: we'll we'll go for that. Well, we're going to continue
Speaker 1: our draft preview series as we review the positions on
Speaker 1: the Packers roster heading into the draft, which is only
Speaker 1: a few days away now. And today we're going to
Speaker 1: tackle the linebackers and defensive backs and west. When you
Speaker 1: look at the Packers linebacking corps, I said this in
Speaker 1: the written piece that has sort of been the companion
Speaker 1: written pieces to our series here on Packer's unscripted Position
Speaker 1: by position, it's sort of been a two year overhaul
Speaker 1: of the linebacking corps for the Packs. Last year it
Speaker 1: was all about the outside linebackers. He signs the Darius
Speaker 1: Smith and Preston Smith your draft Shawn Gary in the
Speaker 1: first round. That position group gets an entire overhaul. Now
Speaker 1: it's the inside linebackers. Blake Martinez has gone, Christian Kirksey
Speaker 1: has been signed, and there's a lot of talk about
Speaker 1: just how high the Packers might select another inside linebacker
Speaker 1: to potentially pair with Kirksey to have a duo there
Speaker 1: in the middle of the defense. Yeah, and that is
Speaker 1: gonna be there. They're two biggest questions I have going
Speaker 1: in this draft is how the Packers are going to
Speaker 1: approach inside linebacker because I think there are a lot
Speaker 1: of dominoes that fall into effect with Okay, if they
Speaker 1: want to play nickel defense, true traditional nickel defense more
Speaker 1: in two thousand twenty, you probably need another inside linebacker
Speaker 1: there to compete with Orange Burks for that job and
Speaker 1: also to have some more depth at that position. So
Speaker 1: seeing exactly where they fit and where they stand on
Speaker 1: hybrid linebacker or traditional inside linebacker, that's a question still
Speaker 1: has to be answered because Ibraheim Campbell is still on
Speaker 1: the market as well. Certainly you have you know, Raven
Speaker 1: Green there if they want to go of that that route.
Speaker 1: So that's number one. Number two is what type of
Speaker 1: inside linebacker would you be looking for? And this draft
Speaker 1: has all of them. When you look at Zack Bond,
Speaker 1: the toy linebacker as one team called him at the
Speaker 1: NFL combine. He's a guy that I think fits that
Speaker 1: mold of that Clay Matthews type a little bit where
Speaker 1: you can rush him, you can have him play coverage.
Speaker 1: He presents every potential avenue to really exercise his versatility.
Speaker 1: If you want to be more creative in that spot,
Speaker 1: then you have your tried and true guys like Kenneth Murray,
Speaker 1: like Patrick Queen out of l s U. Both of
Speaker 1: those guys that have been kind of shifted. You know,
Speaker 1: they aren't the biggest inside linebackers, but they're quick. I
Speaker 1: feel like you go back Mike nine years ago two
Speaker 1: when a j Hawks started to take some weight off
Speaker 1: of his body because he knew he needed to get
Speaker 1: faster at that spot. He knew he needed to be
Speaker 1: able to be more in the coverage side of things.
Speaker 1: And we've never really moved back towards that of the
Speaker 1: two pound inside linebacker as far as if you want
Speaker 1: to play three downs, you've gotta be lights. So all
Speaker 1: three of those young guys are very enticing. But the
Speaker 1: nice thing is for Brian goudakunts what he did by
Speaker 1: getting Christian Kirksey. The Packers do have a guy there
Speaker 1: who's still relatively young and has played that position, has
Speaker 1: been the communicator in that defense before, so that you
Speaker 1: don't necessarily have to go first round if they decided
Speaker 1: to hold off on that. Yeah, And I think it's
Speaker 1: interesting where the Packers are depth wise at that position
Speaker 1: you mentioned or in. Burke's a third round pick a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago. He's now entering his third season,
Speaker 1: and each of his first two years in training camp,
Speaker 1: you're seeing some promise, You're seeing him potentially cart try
Speaker 1: to carve out a role for himself, and then he
Speaker 1: gets injured. He's had training camp injuries each of his
Speaker 1: first two years that have really set him back. And
Speaker 1: you know how it goes west. If you start missing
Speaker 1: preseason games, then once you get into the regular season
Speaker 1: the pads are only on once a week in practice,
Speaker 1: it's really hard to regain that lost time. And I
Speaker 1: think that is something that has affected Burke's his first
Speaker 1: two years. So he'll be looking to stay healthy and
Speaker 1: and make his run at a role on this defense.
Speaker 1: And then you have Curtis Bolton, undrafted a year ago
Speaker 1: out of Oklahoma. He was the guy who was looking
Speaker 1: like he would be the starter next to Blake Martinez
Speaker 1: after or and Burke's got hurt in training camp last year.
Speaker 1: But then Bolton got hurt, he blew out his knee,
Speaker 1: his he was gone for the season. He's another guy
Speaker 1: who is on the roster coming back obviously, you know,
Speaker 1: we'll see what happens with coming back from a significant
Speaker 1: injury like that. So the Packers have some options there,
Speaker 1: but yet they're completely unproven. And as you said, when
Speaker 1: you look at these guys at the top of the draft,
Speaker 1: at the position now, Isaiah Simmons is from Clemson. He's
Speaker 1: the guy. He's a top five pick, all right, And
Speaker 1: all these Packer fans who are wondering what would it
Speaker 1: take for the Packers to trade up from thirty, Well,
Speaker 1: you'd have to trade the entire draft. You'd have to
Speaker 1: pull a Mike Ditker Ricky Williams draft in order to
Speaker 1: get Isaiah Simmons. So just throw that out there. That's
Speaker 1: not gonna happen. But you mentioned Kenneth Murray, Patrick Queen
Speaker 1: or your traditional what are now becoming the tradition three
Speaker 1: down inside linebackers. I don't know if either one of
Speaker 1: those guys will be available for the Packers at thirty,
Speaker 1: but we'll see. And then Zach Bonn. Bonn is so
Speaker 1: interesting because he was essentially a pass rusher and outside
Speaker 1: linebacker at Wisconsin, extremely productive. But then a lot of
Speaker 1: NFL scouts talking about, Hey, this guy can play off
Speaker 1: the ball, he can play in coverage, he could play
Speaker 1: an inside linebacker role. But how I have a pick
Speaker 1: do you you use on a guy who would essentially
Speaker 1: be making a significant transition like that. I think that's
Speaker 1: a question for teams to try to answer, and and
Speaker 1: you know, maybe maybe that's a question the Packers are
Speaker 1: gonna be pondering themselves. So, um, we'll see how this Uh,
Speaker 1: we'll see how this shakes out. But I do think
Speaker 1: by the end of the draft, the Packers are going
Speaker 1: to have another guy in the mix at inside linebacker
Speaker 1: with Burkes and Bolton and Kirksey in that competition to
Speaker 1: see to see what happens come. Yeah, a lot of
Speaker 1: that has been made Mike, of the Packers in the
Speaker 1: inside linebacker situation and if they want to invest to
Speaker 1: high pick into it or what their commitment is to
Speaker 1: that spot. I haven't been as excited about an inside
Speaker 1: linebacker class since two thousand and fourteen. Where you had C. J.
Speaker 1: Moseley and Ryan She'sier and these really dynamic players that
Speaker 1: both turned out to be really good NFL football players
Speaker 1: as well. And I see that similarity here. Maybe not
Speaker 1: with a total you know, pedigree or prestige that they're
Speaker 1: gonna be you know, top fifteen picks or top twenty picks,
Speaker 1: but I still think you know, whether Murray or Queen
Speaker 1: is there at thirty, you also have bond in that situation.
Speaker 1: I think you're gonna get a field by the time
Speaker 1: that this draft is over on Saturday night, where the
Speaker 1: Packers feel they stand at inside linebacker. How much urgency
Speaker 1: there there was to add another body to that room.
Speaker 1: Because as you mentioned, or In Burks, I want to
Speaker 1: put this out there, or In Burks is an NFL
Speaker 1: football player. He is a solid special teams guy. The
Speaker 1: question for him that he must answer is whether or
Speaker 1: not he can be a starting defensive player in this league.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be his objective right now. In Staying healthy
Speaker 1: is a big part of that because the preseason games,
Speaker 1: as you well know, those don't really matter that much.
Speaker 1: It's the fact that he's been having to sit out
Speaker 1: of those training camp practices those padded practices. When you
Speaker 1: get fifteen eighteen of them, you want to be able
Speaker 1: to maximize that opportunity. He hasn't been able to do that.
Speaker 1: Tye Summers, the seventh round pick from last year. Summers
Speaker 1: doesn't have the size of a lot of those inside backers,
Speaker 1: but the guy can run and he's a pretty good athlete.
Speaker 1: So Bolton Summers in in in Burkes. They give you options.
Speaker 1: There is that number two, but I just feel like,
Speaker 1: whether it is the first round, second round, or maybe
Speaker 1: into that third day, bringing in another inside linebacker type
Speaker 1: is gonna be really essential for this defense and being
Speaker 1: able to really push that room and see who you
Speaker 1: can have potentially step up next to Christian Kurtsey. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm glad you mentioned Thy Summers too. I didn't mean
Speaker 1: to ignore him, but certainly a seventh round pick who
Speaker 1: made his mark as a rookie on special teams, he'll
Speaker 1: be looking to take that next step forward in year
Speaker 1: two of his NFL career. Like a lot of guys,
Speaker 1: and before we move on to defensive backs, I don't
Speaker 1: want to ignore outside linebackers completely. We mentioned the Packers
Speaker 1: have the Smiths. They have Gary as a first round
Speaker 1: pick from last year. Kyler factor the number four guy
Speaker 1: in that rotation. He's gone. He left as a as
Speaker 1: a free agent, so um, the Packers certainly could use
Speaker 1: another outside linebacker. Randy Ramsey was a guy who's on
Speaker 1: the practice squad last year, was an undrafted rookie year ago.
Speaker 1: We'll see what happens with his development. I think the
Speaker 1: Packers will add to that outside linebacker group, but based
Speaker 1: on the other needs and everything they have elsewhere in
Speaker 1: the draft, it's hard to envision them using a high
Speaker 1: draft pick on an outside rusher the way they invested
Speaker 1: so much in that position a year ago. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: And you've got to get Rashan Gary on the field more.
Speaker 1: I think he played of the defensive snaps last season,
Speaker 1: and a big reason for that is because of Kyler
Speaker 1: Facral and in his ability to play coverage. I think
Speaker 1: Fatral is gonna be a really good NFL football player.
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna have a real opportunity in New
Speaker 1: York to expand his horizons a little bit and maybe
Speaker 1: use his skills on a more consistent basis. Because even
Speaker 1: though he had that ten and a half sax season,
Speaker 1: that's not Kyler Facral's game, Kyler Facral's game is that
Speaker 1: he is going to be able to give you some
Speaker 1: pass rush, but he's also gonna be able to play
Speaker 1: a different, you know, type of linebacker role almost I
Speaker 1: don't want to say poor man Clay Matthews, but in
Speaker 1: that kind of vein where he can also play coverage
Speaker 1: in addition to what he does on the line. So
Speaker 1: the Packers probably need to replace that guy. But in
Speaker 1: terms of the number of the backup role to the Smiths,
Speaker 1: that guy has to be Rashan Gary. I just I
Speaker 1: think you have to be able to get him on
Speaker 1: the field because for as much of the narrative was, hey,
Speaker 1: is Rashaan Gary doing enough as a first round pick,
Speaker 1: I kept going back to I don't know if he's
Speaker 1: really had the opportunities to show that he can do
Speaker 1: much more than playing out of the dime, and I
Speaker 1: think he's capable of that. I look at this guy
Speaker 1: has having a very similar skill set to Darius Smith.
Speaker 1: If you can get him going, if you can get
Speaker 1: that second year jump from a guy that's still very
Speaker 1: young man having that kind of change up to to
Speaker 1: what Darius Smith does, that could really be a challenge.
Speaker 1: For offensive lines throughout the NFL. Yeah, I'm totally with
Speaker 1: you there. Well, moving on to defensive backs, it's interesting
Speaker 1: West because in a lot of ways, I look at
Speaker 1: the safety position much like the outside linebacker position. The
Speaker 1: Packers did their overhaul of the position last year. He
Speaker 1: signed Adrian Amos, and free agency, you traded up with
Speaker 1: that second first round pick to get Darnell Savage. You
Speaker 1: have your starting pair, and then you mentioned Raven Green
Speaker 1: as sort of that third safety hybrid linebacker type. Ibrahem
Speaker 1: Campbell was on the Packers last year. He's still available
Speaker 1: on the free agent market as another option. So I'm
Speaker 1: not sure how closely the Packers are looking at safeties
Speaker 1: in terms of their their higher picks, you know, Day one,
Speaker 1: Day two picks in this draft. But cornerback, that's another
Speaker 1: situation because while the Packers really like what they have
Speaker 1: obviously with JayR Alexander and Kevin King. As you're one
Speaker 1: and two, Rmon Williams has not resigned with the Packers.
Speaker 1: He's still out there. He's available on the free agent market.
Speaker 1: Kevin King is going into his contract year. So while
Speaker 1: the Packers have depth at cornerback, you you still have
Speaker 1: Channon Sullivan. He was brought back. You have um excuse me.
Speaker 1: Kadar Holman was a sixth round draft pick last year,
Speaker 1: but very much an unknown because he didn't play a
Speaker 1: whole lot on defense. The situation at cornerback, I think
Speaker 1: the Packers are going to be looking at at some
Speaker 1: guys in this draft because you just don't know what
Speaker 1: will happen with King down the line and and things
Speaker 1: with Tremont Williams. There's still a question mark at this point. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we don't really know where things stand with Tremont Williams,
Speaker 1: and at the time in which we're taping this, haven't
Speaker 1: had a chance yet to talk to Brian Goodacunst as
Speaker 1: far as what the direction they want to go with
Speaker 1: that nickel cornerback position, because honestly, Mike, that's the biggest
Speaker 1: opening right now in terms of maybe not having a
Speaker 1: guy that's just stepping in there and could be the
Speaker 1: presumptive starter. You mentioned Sullivan, you obviously mentioned Holman. Josh
Speaker 1: Jackson fits into that as well. Uh, you know, the
Speaker 1: former second round draft pick from two thousand and eighteen,
Speaker 1: the other guy that was taken with jire Alexander. So
Speaker 1: they do have options, But what do they want to
Speaker 1: put in that role. Here's the position I'm looking at, though,
Speaker 1: and it kind of blends between the two of them.
Speaker 1: A guy that I keep going back to and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be writing about this week, and one of the
Speaker 1: ten Trigging Prospects story I'm doing is Geno Stone from Iowa.
Speaker 1: I really like this guy's makeup, and if you look
Speaker 1: at where the Packers have had success, it's been at
Speaker 1: those hybrid types of you know, a guy that kind
Speaker 1: of blurs the lines between cornerback and safety, and I
Speaker 1: think Stone does that much like Micah Hye did. And
Speaker 1: this is the guy that's probably gonna end up being
Speaker 1: a Day two pick, maybe early Day three. I really
Speaker 1: like his skills in terms of being a guy that
Speaker 1: could potentially be a backup at safety but also play
Speaker 1: that nickel star role. But getting back to your original point,
Speaker 1: you do have Kevin King coming up on the last
Speaker 1: year of his contract. You do want to have a
Speaker 1: backup there as well for the outside perimeter guys, and
Speaker 1: this is a sneaky good draft for finding that type
Speaker 1: of guy. I think there are a lot of parallels
Speaker 1: right now between the two thousand eighteen draft that the
Speaker 1: Packers got Alexander from. In what we're looking at right
Speaker 1: now with this two thousand and twenty group, a lot
Speaker 1: of different body types, a lot of different skill sets,
Speaker 1: and as much as you and I've talked about defensive
Speaker 1: tackles and offensive tackles, that could be a sneaky pick
Speaker 1: there for the Packers in the first two rounds if
Speaker 1: they want to go to the cornerback round again. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree with you and a couple other guys. We
Speaker 1: definitely should mention second round draft pick from a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago, Josh Jackson. We talked about the injuries
Speaker 1: that or and Burke's had his first couple of years.
Speaker 1: The same thing happened to Jackson last year's coming off
Speaker 1: of a rookie season where you could see he was
Speaker 1: working his way into a into a role on defense.
Speaker 1: But then a significant offseason injury really set Josh Jackson back,
Speaker 1: and then he wasn't able to climb that depth chart
Speaker 1: when Truman Williams and Chandon Sullivan and all these guys
Speaker 1: were filling their roles early on in the season last year.
Speaker 1: So Josh Jackson is a guy who's looking for a
Speaker 1: bounce back season and then another one I'll throw out
Speaker 1: and I mentioned him an insider inbox a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks ago. Kebon into an undrafted rookie from a year ago. Now,
Speaker 1: don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that this guy
Speaker 1: was gonna be playing fifty snaps a game on defense
Speaker 1: for the Packers last year. But you know, Welst we
Speaker 1: were watching in training camp last year. This was a
Speaker 1: young guy who was going to have a shot to
Speaker 1: make the team. He had a legitimate shot to make
Speaker 1: the fifty three, and then he pulled his hamstring running
Speaker 1: stride for stride with a receiver on a deep ball,
Speaker 1: made a really really good play on the ball, but
Speaker 1: pulled his hamstring and then that was it. He ended
Speaker 1: up not being able to make the team, spent the
Speaker 1: year on the practice squad when he was healthy. So
Speaker 1: that's another guy to keep an eye on here coming back.
Speaker 1: As they say West, especially in this day and age
Speaker 1: in the NFL, passing oriented lee, you can never have
Speaker 1: enough cornerbacks. And you know, I don't even know if
Speaker 1: I would say cornerback would be a sneaky pick necessarily
Speaker 1: high in the draft for the Packers because in this league,
Speaker 1: man you're gonna you're gonna have four cornerbacks on the
Speaker 1: field quite a bit. If you don't have five or
Speaker 1: six who can really play on your roster, you are
Speaker 1: one injury, one injury away from being in dire straits
Speaker 1: potentially at that position, depending on matchups with a certain opponent. Yeah,
Speaker 1: two things I want to mention here. One, if we
Speaker 1: would have had an offseason or a rookie orientation program,
Speaker 1: which I don't think we're gonna be able to get,
Speaker 1: at least in the traditional media sense. One of the
Speaker 1: things I wanted to do is a Day two story
Speaker 1: was looking at how many guys the Packers have actually
Speaker 1: brought back from their practice squad last year. I would
Speaker 1: say half of those guys ended up spending the entire
Speaker 1: year there, Ramsey among them and into them among them.
Speaker 1: That's a huge benefit to have that kind of institutional
Speaker 1: knowledge of the system, in addition to the few guys
Speaker 1: that ended up getting elevated throughout the course of the year. Two.
Speaker 1: And you can clip this Marvin back in the studio
Speaker 1: if he wants to, I still maintain and if I
Speaker 1: end up being wrong, people can take this clip. They
Speaker 1: can they can send it to me they can tweet
Speaker 1: it at me, they can put it on my doorstep.
Speaker 1: Josh Jackson is gonna be a starting cornerback in this league.
Speaker 1: I am fully convinced of it. I know there have
Speaker 1: been some ups and downs, but he has the size,
Speaker 1: he has the playmaking, and I feel like if he
Speaker 1: stays healthy, this guy is one of the people that
Speaker 1: has been completely slept on. I know there's been hits
Speaker 1: and misses over the last five six years with cornerbacks.
Speaker 1: I don't get that feeling from Josh Jackson. And he
Speaker 1: kept up a great disposition despite adverse circumstances, despite being
Speaker 1: a game day and active once last season. He didn't complain.
Speaker 1: He went through a lot last year that I think
Speaker 1: people don't realize and he still was a professional about it.
Speaker 1: And here's the here's the baseline too. The guy is
Speaker 1: a really good special teams player. In my opinion, he
Speaker 1: was their best gunner last season. So at the bare minimum,
Speaker 1: I think you're looking at a Jared Bush type that
Speaker 1: can play multiple positions on defense even if he isn't
Speaker 1: a starter, and give you a solid contributor on special teams.
Speaker 1: But Josh Jackson, he's a guy that I think a
Speaker 1: lot of people have forgotten about, and I think that's
Speaker 1: a mistake. Yeah, I would agree with you there. I'm
Speaker 1: really interested to see what happens with Josh Jackson here
Speaker 1: heading into year three. And while we're at it here West,
Speaker 1: we'll just we'll hit on special teams for a moment,
Speaker 1: because you mentioned how Jackson's had that role, or In
Speaker 1: Burks has had that role. Will Redmond is sort of,
Speaker 1: you know, in that third fourth safety range. He's another
Speaker 1: guy the Packers brought back. He tied or In Burks
Speaker 1: for the team lead in coverage tackles last year. So
Speaker 1: bringing back Will Redmond and then also obviously the Packers
Speaker 1: re signed Mason Crosby and they brought back Tyler Irvin,
Speaker 1: who sparked the return game at the end of the year.
Speaker 1: The Packers are showing a definite commitment here two special
Speaker 1: teams and where things are headed under special teams coordinator
Speaker 1: Sean Manga, who was just a first year cord later
Speaker 1: last year, and obviously I'm sure he learned a lot
Speaker 1: heading into his second year in that position in the NFL.
Speaker 1: So with the Packers having five draft picks in the
Speaker 1: sixth and seventh rounds coming up here this weekend. Those
Speaker 1: are the kinds of picks where you might see, you know, yes,
Speaker 1: those are not guys you're drafting thinking they're gonna step
Speaker 1: in and start at linebacker or at safety or whatever.
Speaker 1: But those are guys that if they've got some special
Speaker 1: teams ability, they can make their mark as a rookie
Speaker 1: and then and you upgrade your special teams and then
Speaker 1: see where their careers go from there. The Packers have
Speaker 1: the draft capital in the late rounds to try to
Speaker 1: find those guys if if they want to. The foundation
Speaker 1: has been set, is the biggest thing. I remember talking
Speaker 1: to Mason Crosby at the end of last season just
Speaker 1: how much he appreciated the fact that, Okay, he has
Speaker 1: the same punter, he has the same holder, he has
Speaker 1: the same long snapper. Again, it had been five years
Speaker 1: since he really had any semblance of consistency in that
Speaker 1: two areas, and he felt like that contributed a lot
Speaker 1: to his career year. Getting him back in the fold
Speaker 1: was huge. But as you mentioned, I think this is
Speaker 1: something you really got to take a deep look at.
Speaker 1: For many years, the Packers focused on young guys, undrafted
Speaker 1: free agents, and that's fine, that's well and good, but
Speaker 1: a lot of times those guys ended up playing a
Speaker 1: lot of special teams for them. This year, the way
Speaker 1: that they've approached this now, you gotta remember Will Redmond
Speaker 1: is a former third round draft pick. You have guys
Speaker 1: like Orn Burke's and in Alan Lazard and Entie Summers. Uh,
Speaker 1: you even look at Robert Tonyan. They have guys that
Speaker 1: have built up a core of those special teams units
Speaker 1: that play multiple spots and multiple variations of those phases.
Speaker 1: That's big, Mike, because when the Packers were at their
Speaker 1: best and special teams, and I would maintain that was
Speaker 1: right around two thousand twelve, right at the end of
Speaker 1: where Randall Cobb was still handling returns, it was because
Speaker 1: they had Jared Bush's. It's because they had Jamari Lattimore's.
Speaker 1: They had these guys that worst defensive players and and
Speaker 1: obviously could help out in that phase. But also we're
Speaker 1: really solid on special teams. I think you're seeing them
Speaker 1: get back to that so that if they do find
Speaker 1: a guy in the six or seventh round that could
Speaker 1: help out, there is some other guys there that it's
Speaker 1: not all on these young guys to be able to
Speaker 1: fill out those teams. Yeah, and those are those are
Speaker 1: the types of things that as as we talk about
Speaker 1: the Packers being only one game away from the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl a year ago, obviously they're hoping to take that
Speaker 1: next step. When you talk about guys like Jared Bush,
Speaker 1: he had an interception in the Super Bowl as a
Speaker 1: backup defensive back, Frank's Zombo had a sack in the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl as a backup linebacker, and a special teams
Speaker 1: guy is an undrafted rookie. So you never know where
Speaker 1: exactly these guys are going to make an impact, and
Speaker 1: when they do, it's all about putting together that first
Speaker 1: the best ninety man roster you can't, then the best
Speaker 1: fifty three man roster you can't to move forward into
Speaker 1: the season. Absolutely, and and that's the intriguing part of
Speaker 1: it because you don't know when you draft guys, you
Speaker 1: don't know what they're gonna turn into. You don't know
Speaker 1: where they're gonna fit. Sometimes Jeff Janis ends up being
Speaker 1: an offensive the type of Jeff Jannis player ends up
Speaker 1: being an offensive revelation. Sometimes he just ends up being
Speaker 1: a really good four year contributor on special teams. Those
Speaker 1: are the type of things that you just have to
Speaker 1: draft the talent, figure out where you think they fit best,
Speaker 1: and let training camp, let the process play out, because, yeah,
Speaker 1: you don't go claiming Jared Bush back in two thousand
Speaker 1: and six believing that Okay, well this is gonna be
Speaker 1: a special team stalwart for us for nine years. You
Speaker 1: just gotta let the situation unfold and see where they
Speaker 1: can potentially give you the biggest boost. Yeah. Absolutely, Well,
Speaker 1: with that, we will sign off on this edition of
Speaker 1: Packers Unscripted. Will have one more draft preview episode coming
Speaker 1: up on Wednesday. This week, West, I'm gonna throw some
Speaker 1: of the hypotheticals at you with regards to the Packers.
Speaker 1: First we get the hypotheticals and insight. You know I
Speaker 1: love hypotheticals, Mike. Yeah, So I'm gonna toss him at
Speaker 1: you and we'll we'll we'll throw them back and forth
Speaker 1: a little bit on Wednesday show as we get ready
Speaker 1: for Thursday's draft. But for now, thank you for watching. Everybody,
Speaker 1: take care, stay safe, and we will see you next time.